Fears Of Aging May Cause Earlier Death: UN

Being afraid of growing old may shorten your life, the UN health agency said Thursday, as new data highlighted the widespread prevalence of ageist attitudes worldwide.

In a first-of-its-kind survey released by the World Health Organization, 60 per cent of respondents said they believed older people "were not respected."

Attitudes towards older people were more negative in richer countries, according to the data from more than 83,000 respondents, who were 18 years of age and older in 57 countries.

The data confirms "that agism is extremely common," said John Beard, WHO's head of Ageing and Life Course.

He warned that discriminatory and negative views about older people can have sweeping consequences, including for younger people.

"There is very good evidence that people who have negative views of themselves as they grow older... it shortens their lives," Beard told reporters.

WHO cited recently published research indicating that "people who hold negative views about their own aging, do not recover as well from disability and live on average 7.5 years less than people with positive attitudes."

Attitudes about aging are "on the level that racism and sexism were maybe 20, 30 or 40 years ago," Beard said.

"Things which are no longer accepted if you were talking about someone on the basis of their race or sex are still tolerated when it comes down to their age."

WHO does not define the group of people victimised by agism.

"There is very good evidence that people who have negative views of themselves as they grow older... it shortens their lives."

Such discrimination could be directed at a 50-year-old seeking a new job, or a 65-year-old facing mandatory retirement but who remains a productive employee.

The WHO official also came out against compulsory, age-defined policies like mandatory retirement, describing them as "problematic".

In seeking a more just definition of what it means to be old, Beard said WHO had begun using the mid-point of life expectancy in each country.

That means, for example, in Britain, where life expectancy is 81, anyone over 41 would be defined as "older", Beard said, voicing hope that this new definition would be "liberating" for those who viewed the onset of their 60s as an ominous benchmark.

There are currently an estimated 600 million people worldwide over the age of 60, a figure set to double by 2025 and hit two billion by 2050, according to WHO.

Because the survey released Thursday was the first set of global data on ageism, WHO officials said it was difficult to track how attitudes had shifted over time, but added there was some evidence that ageism was on the rise.

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Surprising Habits that Are Aging You

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This may come as a shock but think about it: What do your lips do when you are drinking through a straw? You purse them. Do that many times and you’ll start to see lip lines and wrinkles after a while because of the repetitive muscle motion. These lines will become even more obvious as you age because the skin loosens. “Too much” means drinking about 15 beverages a day that way.
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The biggest temptation in the winter – other than staying home all day, cuddled up and watching Netflix – is cranking up the heat in the house. However, you will end up hurting yourself. The heater dries out the air indoors. That can lead to inflamed skin. An acceptable wintertime temperature indoors is 70 degrees for the living room and at least 64 degrees for other rooms, according to the West Midlands Public Health Observatory. Don’t go over 75 degrees though. Tip: Keep a glass of water in the room for some humidity.
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Dehydrated skin gets dry, rough and itchy, making it very prone to wrinkles. Healthy skin usually has about 20 percent water. Dehydrated skin can drop to under 10. The skin then doesn’t retain moisture and the flow of nutrients is affected. If you don’t fix this problem and your body cells don’t get what they need to function properly, they will get damaged.
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Too much of anything is bad for you. Exercise is no different. Doing a lot of high-intensity cardio exercises can backfire on you. Your body goes into stress mode, breaking the skin’s collagen, the protein that basically holds the body together, keeping the skin and muscles strong. No collagen means no protection from wrinkles. You need to do more strength training as you age to keep your muscles fit and to protect your skin from wrinkles.
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A person spends most of the time while sleeping on one side. The best way to sleep is on your back because the skin on your face is not under any pressure. People can’t really control what positions they assume while in REM sleep but you can control the quality of your pillowcase. Go for a satin one for less impact.
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